


Tasteful Lab Rats

by cebw12



Category: Orphan Black (TV)
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - High School, Drugs, F/F, Friendship/Love, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-28
Updated: 2016-07-03
Packaged: 2018-07-18 20:08:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7329010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cebw12/pseuds/cebw12
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>High School AU. </p><p>Cosima and Krystal meet at a party and become unlikely friends.</p><p>Do they have a ship name? Geek Manicure?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. the proof is in the (fruit) punch

The crowd bumped, laughed, and danced, moving as a whole. It was dark except for the hints of neon shining through smoke, and a somewhat dance-able song was playing. Sarah had gone to "get drinks," but Cosima thought she'd seen her go into the hallway with some guy. 

She didn't mind. There was a really, really pretty blonde girl across the room, dancing with her arms bent above her. Her dress was pink and too tight, and she had little gold hoops in her ears. Where she went, she made the room brighter, and people laughed harder and got drunker.

God, Cosima needed a drink. She liked parties. She liked feeling like she was a moving part in a working mass, a flowing, dancing mass of arms and legs and bodies.

But she wasn't good at talking to people. Nothing at parties seemed real, and she never knew whether to expect the best or the worst when approached by a guy with too much vodka on his breath. 

The punch bowl was almost empty, but it would do. She was filling her glass when someone bumped into her from behind.

"Sorry!" It was the blonde, and she was laughing. She took Cosima in with glowing eyes.

"I'm Krystal."

She was pretty, but God, her voice. Cosima didn't know if she could deal with that. It went up at the end of each sentence, like she was  _ asking _ if her name was Krystal.

"Cosima," she flashed her teeth in that nervous smile that she was so used to giving, the one that could get her into or out of almost anything.

"Well, are you having fun?" Krystal giggled, twirling a strand of hair in the direction of a boy across the room, before giving him a short wave.

"I guess so, I like smaller parties, usually," Cosima said. She fumbled with her drink, trying to think of things to say so that the glowing girl with the annoying voice wouldn't get pulled away too soon. She didn't have to.

"Your glasses are totally cute! Are you, like, really blind? My uncle has a glass eye, but you'd never know, like it moves and everything!" And then she seemed to realize something, "You know what? I'll give you my number in case you, like, need a ride home. I know the guy who lives here so I'd feel totally responsible if you didn't get home."

Cosima barely had her phone out of her pocket before it was in Krystal's hands, pink nails tapping on the back. She tipped her head to the side, typing.

She finished, smiled, said "call me!" and then she was gone, and the smoke in the room was too overpowering again, and Cosima couldn’t tell if the heat in her stomach was from the punch. 

She didn't mind that she thought she was too blind to get home. 


	2. the eye that holds it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Krystal and Cosima cross paths again, after the party.

It was a week later when Cosima got the text. She blew smoke out of her nose, squinting at her phone screen, trying to place the name to the face. It hit her all at once, the pink dress and nails. Curled blonde hair. Grating voice. Nice. 

And she wanted her to come over.

Cosima hoped the wind from the street would blow the smell off of her, she hadn't had time to shower. She'd put her hair up, and by the time she picked an outfit, she was already supposed to be there.

Krystal came to the door with a drawn out "hiiiiii" and a bright smile, which Cosima hadn't expected.

Nighttime was a different world, and people were shiny and plastic in the glow, the way they wanted, but never would be in real life. But Krystal had the same smile, smooth face, and brightly-colored clothes that Cosima remembered. She was still golden.

She brought Cosima to her basement, and she had two other friends there. One, she assumed was Krystal's boyfriend, from the way she tugged on his sleeve and made a whining sound when she spoke. She wondered if Krystal had misread her, and was trying to hook her up with the other guy. She settled uncomfortably onto the couch.

Krystal had her eyes locked on her the whole time.

She had this sort of intimate, curious stare that made you feel like you were the only one in the room, and that she had been waiting for you for a long time.

"Cosima! Come help me get some drinks from upstairs," Cosima was grateful to get away from the two guys - she did actually like Krystal's boyfriend, he was pretty smart. The other guy, Josh, was way too preppy.

"So?" Krystal's eyes brightened, "He's cute, right?"

Cosima's chest was pounding, she hadn't been looking forward to this, and she wished she hadn't come.

"Listen, Krystal, I think you didn't understand-"

"Wait, are you dating someone already?"

"No. I'm gay, actually. I like girls," even though her chest hurt, she smiled a little half-smile.

"Ohhh," Krystal blew her hair out of her face, turning the idea over. She shrugged, finally, "Okay! Help me with the soda?"

The boys left after a while, and Cosima wasn't sure if it was her lack of interest in Josh, or Krystal's undivided attention on her that put them off. She got the feeling Krystal hung out with boys most of the time.

When they were out the door, Krystal’s eyes lit up again, "I'm going to paint your nails!"

"Not pink, please," Cosima groaned.

Krystal looked Cosima over carefully, taking in the colors on her shirt and the way the light reflected off her glasses. She felt like this girl could look at you, and could take apart your whole life, piece by piece, and look at it in open light.

"Blue!" She said finally, pulling out four or five different variations of blue nail polish. 

"You do this a lot, huh?"

"I want to be a beautician." She started on Cosima's right hand. "What do you want to do?"

"Biology, I think. I'm super into genetics," Cosima shrugged, she didn't expect Krystal to know or care much about genetics.

"Oh, so you know about, like, genetically modified stuff?"

Cosima paused, looking at her. Krystal had stopped painting, stopped looking distracted. She was excited about this.

"Yeah, sort of. Why?" Cosima asked.

"It's actually kinda creepy, science and stuff. If they figure out how to make, like, the perfect baby, beauticians will go out of business." She raised her eyebrows, then went back to painting.

Cosima bit the inside of her cheek, "It's really interesting, actually. You're into beauty, but you don't want there to be the possibility for a 'perfect human'?" She wondered if she'd hit a nerve, worded it wrong. But this was the que for Krystal's elevator speech.

"I think beauty is in like, the eye that holds it. You should be able to be beautiful in your own way, not what some sketch scientists think is beautiful."

Cosima was at a loss, for a second, for words. She hadn't expected something this profound from Krystal, even if it was profound in her own, drawling way.

She hadn't even noticed that Krystal had finished her nails. She looked down at the glossy blue, that somehow didn't look as clunky on her fingers as she thought it would.

"You like it?"

"Yeah, I mean," she suddenly felt stupid, realizing she knew nothing about painting nails, or whatever else beauticians do, "I don't usually paint them, or anything."

  
"It looks good on you," Krystal took Cosima's hand again, inspecting her work, and Cosima could only stare at the pattern on the rug. She felt like she was invading Krystal's private little world, and she didn't know how to be a part of it.


	3. the tamed are the loneliest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sarah offers her "advice" on the Krystal situation. Bonus for some Punky Monkey.

Sarah came over almost every afternoon, and it was  _ supposed _ to be for help with homework, but it usually devolved into naps, light drinking, and divulging the latest gossip that Sarah had picked up from her older friends. 

Cosima had that twisting feeling in her gut that she probably shouldn’t ask what Sarah knew about Krystal, or let onto knowing her at all (let alone being in her house), but her curiosity got the better of her.

"Hey," she nudged Sarah with her (socked) foot, "do you remember that blonde girl from the party?"

Sarah propped herself on her elbow and puffed her cheeks, letting the air hiss out while she thought. "Really annoyin' voice, right?"

"I guess," Cosima shrugged,  _ not interested, I’m not that interested,  _ she thought, more to convince herself than anything else. 

"Yeah, that’s Krystal Goderich,” Her mouth curved into a sort of  _ mocking _ smile, “Why?"

"She invited me over a couple days ago."

"She brought Starbucks to PE,” Sarah laughed, “Not the smartest, either."

“When’s the last time you’ve  _ been _ to PE?” She asked.

“Irrelevant.” 

"I don't know, maybe you're making judgements before you’ve even talked to her, Sarah-"

"Why?" Sarah faced her now, and she had that shiny look in her eyes, she knew she was right. "You got a crush or somethin', Cos?"

She waved the accusation off, hoping Sarah wouldn’t notice the heat rising in her cheeks. “No! No.”

“Yeah?” Sarah followed Cosima’s face, grinning, tracking her like a shark. Her teeth were sharp enough. “Don’t think I believe that, Cos,” She laughed. 

Cosima squeezed her eyes shut and let her head fall back. “Shit.” She covered her eyes with her hands and groaned, and she could feel Sarah’s grin getting wider. “Shit, what am I doing?”

Sarah made an empathetic humming sound, shaking Cosima’s knee, “Don’t get screwed up over a straight girl, yeah?”

It was quiet, and Cosima felt her chest relax, Sarah’s “always right” act had dropped. The room was distinctively calmer, both of them could feel it. She shook Cosima’s knee and it was gentler this time, an apology. 

Cosima’s phone buzzed in her pocket. She snapped out of her haziness, blinking, digging her phone out of her pocket. 

_ -Heyyyy, can I come over? :( _

Sarah watched her, staring at her phone. Cosima sighed. 

“Shit, s’that her?” 

Cosima nodded, “She wants to come over.”

“Right,” Sarah rolled onto her feet, stretched her legs, and shook her jacket off of the floor, “I’m gonna make myself scarce, then.” 

She paused, then bent down and pecked Cosima on the cheek. 

“Be careful, yeah?” 

She raised her eyebrows when Cosima didn’t respond. Cosima nodded, finally.

“I will.”

“See ya later, Cos.”

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to leave a comment, let me know if you would like to read more of this!


End file.
